The Wanted
by Historyexplorer12
Summary: Sequel to The Unwanted. Khalis is the son of Hephaestion and Darius III. Turns out, he has the same gift as his mother. What's the large family to do? Disclaimer: I only own the OCs that I've created! Warnings: Past Mpreg, Mpreg, swearing, M to be safe, may change genres, establised M/M relationship, read prequel first!
1. Chapter 1

**AN: Hello, everybody! This will be the sequel to The Unwanted, and will focus on Khalis, one of my original characters from that story. In this story, Khal will be about 16, whereas when The Unwanted ended, he was about 10 years old. I just want to make sure you guys are aware of the time skip I have in here. Explaining the time skip should also let you guys put Khalis' brothers' ages into about the right spot. Lastly, I hope you all enjoy this story as much as its prequel. Now on with the story.**

It was early in the morning, and Hvarekhshaeta had just pulled the Sun over the sand, so that it was just beginning to shine into the windows of the large house shared by two families that had long before become one.

But such a morning was never quiet for this bonded family, and on this day the chaos began with Khalis the fifteen-year-old son of Hephaestion and the last King of Persia, who was long dead, Darius III. The boy had awoken a few minutes before and stood and stretched, ready for a day's work in the fields with his father, his six brothers being too young as of yet to work, and so staying home with their Mam, who was Hephaestion.

Khalis went to dress, as was his morning routine, and so bent down to pull on loose-fitting pants before going to the washroom down the corridor. By doing this, however, he glimpsed the bed from the corner of his eye, and so saw that something red was on the bed. Confused, he turned so as to see it better, and saw after a few minutes of inspection that it was in fact blood. Then he became aware of the heavy tug low in his belly, and the burning between his legs.

"Mam! Fa! Help, I hurt! Mam!" he began to call as his eyes became wet in response to his fear. His legs being weak from the pain, he collapsed onto the floor, calling out for help once more.

The next thing Khalis knew, his Mam and Fa were rushing into the room, panicked beyond belief when they found him on the floor with blood staining the bed, his pants, and the floor.

"Khal! Khalis, Love, can you tell Mam what hurts? Did you hit something when you fell?" Hephaestion joined him on the floor before helping him to sit up and taking him into his arms comfortingly.

"I'm bleeding, Mam. I woke up and I was bleeding! Am I dying?" Khalis' voice shook with his tears.

Hephaestion turned to share a quick, stunned stare with Faris before Khalis took their silence as a bad thing and wailed, his head in his hands. Hephaestion understood his son's confusion and so was quick to reassure him.

"Khalis, Babe, you are not dying. Do you remember when you were little and asked where your brother was?" Khalis shook his head miserably, clinging to his mother and burrowing his head into Hephaestion's shoulder, "I thought not. Come, we'll discuss it while you get a bath. It's all right," when Hephaestion stood up and stepped back a little, Faris knelt down on the bloody floor and gently picked his eldest son up, holding him close while Khalis wrapped his arms around his father's neck and sobbed into his shoulder.

* * *

"Ohh…" when Hephaestion helped peel Khalis out of his dirty clothes, "Mam… My belly…"

"I know, Babe. We will get you cleaned up, and then you can have some black cohosh and go back to sleep. You don't have to go out to the fields today."

"Why?" Khalis winced and Hephaestion watched as his arms, which were wrapped around his belly to ease the pain he was feeling, tightened for just a moment.

"Khal, Babe, do you remember when you were eleven? Fa and I had that talk with you about where babes come from. Do you remember that?" Khalis gave a strained nod before letting out a small cry of pain. Hephaestion reached up to stroke his hair comfortingly and Khalis could feel his father's presence next to him and so leaned into him, panting slightly.

"Whatever it is, I don't want it anymore. I feel dizzy, and-" without warning, his stomach twisted inside him while pain lanced between his legs, and suddenly there was sick all over the bathchamber floor, as well as Faris' bare feet, "S-sorry, Fa…"

"No harm done, Khal. I had much worse with you as a baby," and without another word, Faris walked over to the wash tub and proceeded to rinse off his feet before tossing the old water out and placing the tub back down on the floor.

Khalis became sick once more, and Khalis cried out, panicked, "Mam, what is happening to me?!"

"You know that I bleed every month, don't you, Babe?" when Khalis nodded weakly, Hephaestion continued in a calm voice, "I bleed because I have a gift that allows me to have babies. And it seems I have passed that gift onto you."

 **AN: Hope you all enjoyed! I don't really like this first chapter, but I think writing this story will get easier as I go.**


	2. Chapter 2

Khalis stared at his mother in disbelief, "What? No, I can't. I'm- OW! Fa!"

Faris responded immediately to his babe's call, wrapping him in a hug and holding him close without pulling him off the toilet. He had never liked it when any member of his family was in pain, and now, as he shared a look with Hephaestion, who was still situated in front of their son, Hephaestion could clearly see that his husband was in some amount of distress as Khalis sobbed into his shoulder. Finally, Hephaestion stood over Khalis to help his son clean up and then got him a cloth to put in his loincloth. After all was said and done, Faris lifted his boy up and into his arms, murmuring softly in Khalis' ear while taking him to the family room to sit on the couch, Hephaestion following closely behind. When Faris looked up at him from where he sat petting Khalis' long, curly hair, he could clearly see that his lover felt guilty. Leaning up just a little, Faris gave him a reassuring kiss on the mouth, his eyes clearly saying, "Not your fault. It was out of your control."

Giving Faris a watery smile, to show him that he had heard him but really didn't believe him, at least not yet, Hephaestion put a comforting hand on his babe's hunched back and then let it slide down and away from Khalis as he knelt in front of his suffering boy, quickly moving it up to his forehead to check for fever, because he remembered having a small fever in his first few months at the age of fifteen. Finding none, he pulled away, bending forward to be able to still be heard in a whisper.

"Do you want some herbs? I have some just for this. Oh Khal," when the boy answered in nothing but more sobs, "Babe…"

At that, Khalis shifted in his father's lap and let go of his neck, turning to stretch his arms out to his mother, who took him into his arms without complaint.

"I know, I know. It doesn't feel good, does it? It's okay, shh… Mam's here, Mam's got you, shh…"

"I do not want it! I do not want to be seen as a woman! Help me, Mam! I do not want it!"

"Shh… Wait a moment. No one will see you as a woman. Why would you think that? Do you think the people here see me as a woman, or Uncle Lutfi? We are just men with a gift, given to us by the gods. All right?"

Khalis had calmed a bit by now, or at least enough to steady his tears a little and speak his true fear, "B-but… the other boys will laugh… and take me before I can give my ultimate consent… Isn't that what you said Mam? That I had to give my consent, and that I could change my mind at any time?" Khalis' bright eyes and darker face were haunted as he stared off into space as he sat in Hephaestion's lap while Hephaestion ran his fingers through the young man's blacker-than-the-night curls.

Hephaestion smiled down upon his frightened son, proud of him, "I did say that, but only to protect you and your brothers. You see, I had that very thing happen to me at the hands of your true father. It was how you came to be, and I would wish that on nobody, not even my greatest enemy. I just told you all those lessons so you could be aware of such things, and so protect yourself against them. I just want you safe and happy, that is all."

"But this…" Khalis looked down at his belly, and his hands that had linked over it unconsciously, "this curse-"

Hephaestion bid him pause with a raised hand, his face neither happy or sad, "It is a gift. I realize that it does not seem so now, but it is. I can only hope that you will grow to see it as such, because I- _we_ -" he glanced over at his silent husband briefly, discreetly linking their hands together where they lay on the couch in a show of love and trust, "-we love you no less than we did this night last, nor will we ever love you less. I hope you understand that, Khal."

Khalis looked up into the eyes that matched his own, relief visibly flooding his body, "I do, Mam."

"Good. Now, let us find those herbs for you. Come," and both parents and son went in search of what Khalis needed, as they always would, no matter the severity or the nature of the problem at hand.


	3. Chapter 3

**Warning: implied M/M love scene**

With Lutfi watching the other children, and Faris aware that he might have to come home at a moment's notice if Khalis got worse to the point Hephaestion needed help, which the man himself doubted, Hephaestion was able to settle on the family room couch with his son, holding and shushing him through his first bleed with an empty, clean jar resting on the floor in case Khalis became sick again.

"Mam… It feels like my legs are being torn off my body and my hips are splitting in two… Mam, make it stop!"

"Shh, my Babe, shh… It will be over in a few days-"

"I'll die in a few days!"

Hephaestion closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He knew that Khalis was in great pain, as this was his first bleed and he did not understand what was happening to him and that that fact alone made the entire ordeal worse, but he also knew that the hormones flooding his son's body at the age of fifteen had doubled with this new development, and so Khal was more likely to think and say things like that that he had just said. Hephaestion knew that he had felt and done the same at the age of fifteen as well.

When Hephaestion felt centered again, he opened his eyes and looked down at his suffering boy. He went back to petting the ever-so-slightly damp curls that framed Khalis' face before opening his mouth to speak and thus, reassure his son.

"Khal, Babe, there is no possible way that you or I or anyone could die from such a natural occurrence in the world. Not from this. I promise."

Khalis burrowed into his mother, quiet for a moment before whispering, "I am frightened, Mam…"

Hephaestion dropped a kiss onto his babe's temple before whispering back, "I know, Babe. I was too…"

Faris came home to find his husband and son curled on the couch, with Lutfi and the rest of the children settled on the floor as Hephaestion regaled them all with tales of his time with Alexander and the rest of his Companions.

"-and so there was Ptolemy, naked as the day he was born, running like a madman through the camp, chasing after these two girls who had stolen his chiton, loincloth, and sandals while he was bathing in the river. It caused an uproar, let me tell you- Oh! Good evening, Amenanvirakan," he accepted Faris' greeting of a soft kiss on the lips before Faris pulled away and bent down to hug and kiss each of his sons in turn.

"And what are we all doing up so late?" he asked, jokingly disapproving.

"Oh, please don't be mad, Fa. Mam was just telling a story," Khalis pleaded, to which all of his brothers nodded and gave their own words of agreement.

"Oh? And what story might this be?" he turned once more to face his grinning husband.

"I've titled it, 'Ptolemy Gets Tricked,' " his lover giggled, face aglow with merriment.

"Ah, so it's that one, is it? Well, if the story is done, Sireli, I think it is time for little boys," he eyed each of his sons in turn, ending at Khalis, who blushed lightly under his father's scrutiny and turned away, "to go to sleep."

"Is it so late already? How time flies when you are enjoying yourself. All right, Darlings, kisses and then off to bed. Tomorrow is a new day."

With all the boys except for Khalis off to bed, both Faris and Hephaestion went back to the family room to help him to bed. Without any qualms, Faris lifted his boy off of the couch and took him upstairs with Hephaestion following behind. After a few moments, they had arrived at Khalis' bedchamber door and went inside.

"Mam, what are you doing?" Khalis asked when Hephaestion took an extra blanket from Khalis' wooden chest that stood across from his bed and laid it out on the lower half of the bed.

"In case you bleed during the night, Darling. This will protect the mattress. I do the same every month. It's all right. There you are. Sweet dreams, Darling," came with a kiss to the cheek, "If you need anything, we are right down the hall," and with that, Khalis was laid down on his bed, tucked in, and the door was shut after his parents.

Once they were in their own bedchamber, Faris turned to his husband, "You looked so radiant telling that story to the children…" as he said this, he bent lower and lower until his lips touched the smooth skin of Hephaestion's neck, "What story were you telling them?"

Knowing what his husband was doing, and what end it would have, Hephaestion smiled wryly, but allowed the attention to continue.

"When we were eighteen, two of the girls in our camp- I think they were the daughters of one of Philip's generals, I can't remem- Oh, oh Ahura…-remember. Anyway, they followed Ptolemy to the river and then stole his clothes…"

"Like this?" Faris grinned into Hephaestion's neck mischievously before he ripped Hephaestion's chiton away from his body, pulling away to take in the beauty that was his husband.

Hephaestion gasped at his lover's rash behavior before Faris was back with him again and ever so slowly working his way down his body with kisses and soft bites.

"No, don't-" he tried and failed to protest, "the boys- Khal-"

"Khal is fine. He will come get us if he needs us. Everyone is safe in their beds, I promise you. Now, relax. Relax and let go."

* * *

Many hours later, just down the corridor, Khalis was suffering a mare of the night. It felt as though he was seeing the world from two different sets of eyes, even though he knew he was in only one body. Then he looked down at his body. And screamed.

* * *

Hephaestion immediately awoke from a deep sleep at the sound of a scream from just down the corridor. Realizing instinctively that the sound had come from one of his children, he wasted no time in hurrying from the master bed he shared with Faris, all while knowing his husband would wake up at his movement and follow him. The screams continued as he raced to find a house robe and pull it over his naked form.

"I'm coming, Babe!" he called out, hoping to at least temporarily sooth his distressed child or children. At this point, he realized that Faris had risen from their bed and pulled on sleep pants. When he determined they were both decent, he opened their bedroom door and hurried out into the hall, trying to both figure out which of his sons was in distress and follow the sounds of the screams.

Quick thinking and a body that easily reacted in times of great urgency led him to Khalis' room. He felt Faris behind him as he knocked quietly and called out, telling his eldest that his parents had heard him and were entering the room. They opened the door to find Khalis panting, getting ready to take in another lungful of air to continue yelling wordlessly.

Going to the bed, Hephaestion sat down before he could, drawing his attention away from his primal call for help and instead allowing the fifteen-year-old to fall into his mother's arms and start sobbing into Hephaestion's chest.

"We're here now, Babe. You are safe. Whatever scared you is not here. I promise. Can you calm down and tell Mam and Fa what frightened you so? Was it a dream? Yes? Oh, Babe, shh… Shh…"

"I am going to be sick. Mam, I will be sick!" now that Khalis had calmed emotionally somewhat, the shock of his dream was causing his body to physically react.

"Faris, will you- Thank you," as Faris went from the room to collect a bowl from the kitchen so that Khalis could be sick without the mess. In the meantime, Hephaestion rubbed his child's back and whispered to him calmingly. Faris came back quickly, and with his parents' support and encouragement, Khalis was sick. Once it was over, although it was not long-lived, Hephaestion helped his son wash his mouth and lay back in his bed before lying down beside him, silently prompting his husband to do the same, "Do you feel better now, Dearest? What mare of the night did you have to prompt such a reaction?"

With a little coaxing, Khalis settled down between his parents and told them his dream.

"I was two people in one body! I felt as if I was seeing the world from the eyes of two different people and then I looked down at my body and saw that it was true! I was half man and half woman and I- Why are you laughing, Mam!?"

It was true; Hephaestion was laughing. Not because he thought his child's confusion and pain was something to laugh at, but because he was relieved. The nature of Khalis' dream had shown Hephaestion that his son was in no danger, real or imaginary.

"Oh Babe, you just had a visit from the god Hermaphroditus. He is a minor Greek god that became half male and half female after his union with the water nymph Salmacis. He came to you to teach you about your new ability, I suspect. He meant you no harm. Your dream was only a mare of the night because you perceived it that way. You are completely safe, as you will always be," Hephaestion kissed Khalis' brow gently, still chuckling, "Will you be able to sleep now?""

Khalis nodded cautiously, watching his parents as they rose from his bed in order to leave the room, "I suppose so. I am sorry for waking you…"

Hephaestion bent to kiss Khalis' temple once more and tuck him in, "No harm done, Babe. We are always here for you, day or night, rain or shine. May Morpheus keep you well this night."

"May Mor-" Khalis tried to return the nightly blessing, but his eyes had already slipped closed and he was snoring lightly.

Hephaestion and Faris took one last long look at their sleeping son before quietly leaving the room and shutting the door behind them, proud and content beyond words. Then they slipped back down the corridor to their own room, joining all of their sons in the realm of sleep well before the Sun came up to signal the fresh start of a new day.

 **AN: I used Greek gods in this chapter because the quick research I did for Ancient Persian gods of both hermaphrodites and sleep did not seem to reveal any names. Also, Hephaestion and Khalis are technically NOT hermaphrodites, or at least I do not think of them as such. Hermaphroditus was just the closest god I could think of that was similar to their gift and/or ability. Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter!**


End file.
